Speakers:

• SPEAKER_00 → John Daub

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Full Transcript

00:00:01 John Daub: Hello everybody! Wooohooo! I'm now camping here in Asahikawa. People have been lighting up fireworks for the last couple of hours as well. It's about 8pm here in the northernmost city in Hokkaido, or the northernmost big city here in Hokkaido and in Japan. And I've set up my tent behind me. I'm going to be camping. It was a pretty warm day so I figured even though it's... Whoa! There's people lighting up fireworks. One of them came my way. Even though it's going to be a little bit chilly tonight, it's a last chance for me to camp because the weather looks like it's going to get cooler from here on out.

00:00:48 John Daub: I thought I would take some questions and answers from you about life in general because right now the finish line for this trip, the goal is in sight. Wakkanai is just maybe one or two more rides away. So that means this five, six week adventure is coming to an end and I've opened a can of Sapporo beer. This is the black label in honor of that trip. So I might be taking a sip every now and then.

00:01:23 John Daub: People have been asking me when you're camping and you're on the road how do you stay clean? There are coin laundries everywhere and I just got out of the bath. There's a public sauna and bath house about five hundred meters away from this camp spot. So even though I'm out on the road, I'm always, always clean. My clothes are clean because I wash it every two, three days and my body is clean because I take a bath almost every day. There's a couple of days where I can't get into the bath but in general always I might not shave but I'm always getting a chance to finding a place to take a bath. If you have any questions, I will now take them.

00:02:06 John Daub: I heard... so, Mari Silver, I heard that where I live there's a 99% chance it's not fireworks. Mari Silver, maybe where you live but here in Japan I think it's fireworks because I can see the sparks. A lot of hellos from all around the world. Thank you for that. I do have some of those heat packs. The last person that I hitchhiked with gave me a stack of about 10 of them. So I'm going to be putting them in my sleeping bag. So I'll stay warm. And those have an average temperature of what? 45, 50 degrees Celsius. So yeah, I'll be just fine. I hitchhiked in Noboribetsu a few days ago and it was pretty cold outside but those heat packs kept me pretty warm inside my sleeping bag. So, good question.

00:03:02 John Daub: The WPAC 911, how are you? How are you feeling during the hitchhiking trip versus how you felt during the end of the 2003 trip? That's a good question. The 2003 trip, it took a lot less time. Less than a month. About 28 days. I started September 7th and I ended on October 5th I think in Kagoshima. And I finished the trip in Miyazaki. Actually, I flew from Miyazaki back to Tokyo.

00:03:33 John Daub: Here comes another one. This trip is different because this is... this trip is different because I could communicate better with people. Back then, I couldn't speak much Japanese at all. I would be like, for those of you traveling to Japan, maybe your second or third time, maybe my level of Japanese was just a little bit better than that. I could read Hiragana and Katakana. I knew some Kanji. I knew some of the Kanji for the places because I traveled around before. I knew Hiroshima, Osaka. You remember that because you see that quite often in Japan. But I couldn't talk to people. Basic stuff like stop, eat, go. So communication was very, very difficult. This time, our conversations are about politics. They're about the stuff that's happening in the United States and the threat of war from North Korea right now. Or how do I feel about the President of the United States versus the last President of the United States. And I don't give my opinion about that much because it's a lose-lose situation really.

00:04:43 John Daub: The conversations have been really deep. But also conversations about Japan in general. My curiosity about this country is ten times greater than it was back in 2003 because I have this knowledge from making the show that you've seen for the last four years on top of years of working with NHK where I've gotten a chance to go on amazing locations to go behind the scenes of stuff. And that's afforded me some special knowledge. And that has made this trip so much better. I can't tell you how much better this trip has changed my life basically.

00:05:15 John Daub: Because I think the last four years making Only in Japan, I've gotten into a rhythm of making the show twice a month and the topics were good. I always tried to find new topics but I was getting a little bit... I think it was getting a little bit old for me. A little bit tired. Now, oh my, I am so psyched for the next year or two years. I am so psyched for the Olympics because I've made so many new Japanese friends and most of them are between the ages of 30 and 50. People that are in the middle of their career that have opened so many doors and opened my eyes to new things. To new foods, to new places, to new feelings, to new sights and sounds and smells.

00:06:03 John Daub: There was one guy that was driving a passenger. He didn't smell very good. But that was a new smell for me. In general though, I mean, this experience is what life is all about. And if I compare 2003 which I think was seeing the heart of Japan and that's one reason why I stayed longer because I really had found that connection with this country through the last hitchhiking trip. This trip has done that and even more. It's reminded me of the things that I might have forgotten in my life. It's reminded me of the things that I took for granted in my life. It's changed the way I think about people.

00:06:39 John Daub: I think in Tokyo it's very easy when you live in Tokyo for a long time in any big city maybe you get more material and more trendy and more fashion and you lose sight on what's really important in life. And that's why I think people aren't happy in the cities maybe because they lose sight on what's important in their lives. And that's the people. It's the experiences. It's always finding new things and new what you can do in the city. But out here on a trip like this I know I'm talking a lot but I can't tell you how much this trip has changed my life and I think it's going to make the new content even much more better than it has been in the past just because I've discovered so many new things.

00:07:23 John Daub: That one was cool. Why are they launching it in my direction? Why are they launching it in my direction? That's not cool. Anyways, so that's a long answer but it just has so much meaning. Even to this point I look back at the places that I've been it's incredible in the short amount of time how much I've seen. It's off the walls incredible. So yeah, that's so Hussein Hilmi to the great adventure. Thank you man. Thank you very much. Phil Lam more beer money. Oh yeah I guess this one's not enough. I'm going to have to go back to the store and get another one. This is the Sapporo beer in Japan. They have a new can which is interesting to me. So thanks for the beer money. I definitely appreciate that. I'm glad they are launching the fireworks because this place would be pretty creepy. This camping area behind me, you can't really see much. There's a lantern lighting the area about 15 meters away. This camp spot is usually full of people in the summer and today because even though it's Golden Week there's nobody here. Except for a couple of high school kids launching fireworks at me.

00:08:58 John Daub: They're still launching it my direction. Dude dudes. Hopefully they don't hit me. At least I can see them coming. Which is another interesting thing. There were foxes, kitsune, foxes walking around. I thought they were dogs at first. They were foxes. You could tell from the tail and their ears. They weren't really scared of humans but they were looking for trash to eat or something but that freaked me out because one walked right by my tent and the tent was open. Like, whoa fox! You know, you don't see that in Tokyo or other places in the world. Forget fox village. The whole island of Hokkaido is a fox village.

00:09:48 John Daub: Yeah. I'm going to go back and see if there are any questions. What are the essentials you need to make this journey? Mighty Silver. So basically for this journey basically to hitchhike you just need to bring a Japanese dictionary or translator. You need to be able to communicate. I think this is what you're asking me. Bring as little luggage as possible but it's nice to have a tent and sleeping bag in case you get stranded and somebody doesn't pick you up. The ability to write kanji I think is important on the cardboard signs so that you get picked up. That's how you communicate with the drivers as they drive by. I think you need to find your smile and have a good time because if you look like a scary dude no one's going to pick you up. I try to look like a very nice young student. Some people will pick me up but somebody's walking behind me.

00:10:49 John Daub: As little luggage as possible. I have way too much stuff. I lost a ride. If you look I filmed it but I lost a ride. It was the first ride I lost yesterday. It was because I had too much luggage. I was going to take me directly on the highway to Asahikawa. I opened the door and I said you have tires and stuff in your back. Can I put it in the trunk? He goes sorry. He said zannen (too bad). I said that's too bad and he drove off. That was the first time that something blew up in someone's hands. This is making the Q&A pretty interesting. I don't think they're running out of ammo at all. This is the wild north of Japan.

00:11:47 John Daub: Back to this. You need to bring as little as possible because I lost a ride. I lost a ride for having too much. One bag. Travel light. Bring cash. Travel light. Those are not gunshots. They're fireworks. These are good questions. It seems like Madi is the only one who asks questions.

00:12:08 John Daub: Megabixel, your optimistic attitude has been inspiring. Made me realize I quit too early. That's a really good comment. That's not a question but that's something I have to address. I have to tell you something. Yesterday, I was really, really there were patches on yesterday's hitchhike. I was depressed because I didn't know things are going wrong. Things are really, really going wrong. Over the course of this trip when things went wrong I noticed that if you just keep going forward or you keep reassessing your situation and finding new ways or new places or new locations or changing your sign or changing your strategy or changing the position then you change the trajectory of your life.

00:13:05 John Daub: This hitchhiking trip is such a microcosm of life in general, I think. On fate. I wouldn't have met the people that I met if it wasn't for the time that I went on a trip and for the last ride dropping me off in that particular spot. And them coming at that particular time and stopping and meeting them that's all like fate. All connected by this weird time and space. That's the only way I can think of it. But you don't quit on that. You have nowhere else to go. Because I really put myself in a position I got nowhere to retreat. I'm out there. And if I give up I got nowhere to go. I got nothing to do. I have a tent and I sleep there. So I can't give up. And when you put yourself in those kinds of situations where you jump and don't look back you find that you have really, really become a capable person. And you learn to rely on yourself. And you learn to challenge yourself and not be afraid when things go wrong. And not be afraid of taking risks and taking steps. And if you keep moving forward things will be okay. I can't tell you how depressed I was. I really was depressed. I got dropped off on a short ride. I got kicked off the highway by Nexco which is the highway company. They said I couldn't hitchhike there because I used the Nexco toilet. I walked into their building and used their restroom because I didn't want to pee outside. And the guys with the helmets who I guess monitored the highway said you know what, you can't hitchhike here. You can't go over there. And he didn't tell me where to hitchhike from. It was an awful spot I found. And then another bad spot. And eventually somebody stopped. The guy on Instagram whose picture is there right now. And my gosh, that's fate, isn't it? That is total fate. The fact that I got — the guy — and this just goes back sometimes we give up too early and this is true.

00:15:19 John Daub: I was actually friends with this guy. Super nice guy. I got kicked off the highway. I had to move to another spot. A woman at the crosswalk said you know this isn't a good spot. Maybe you should move where a car can stop. I moved 150 meters down the road and found a little bus, a place where a bus can pull in. Another woman came, a mother with a child in the back of the car stopped and she told excuse me sir, but you know if you hitchhike another 2 kilometers down the road you'll be on route 12 and the bus is going towards Asahikawa. That's going to be a lot better. And I said wow, thank you. She said get in, put your stuff in the back and I'll take you to the intersection. I said okay. So she took me to the intersection and I waited there for an hour and a half hitchhiking. My legs were getting really tired and I was getting frustrated and thinking oh man, I'm going to have to camp here. And I'm hungry. Should I go to a restaurant and just recharge? Or should I stick it out and keep the sign up? And I kept the sign up. I think it was about it wasn't very long I was actually going to move to another spot that this truck pulled up right in front of me and he said where are you going? And that changed that changed my feeling instantly from pessimism to optimism where I was thinking bad things and then I started thinking positive. Man, that's happened so much on this trip where I just can't give up anymore. I know that the moment I give up I'm going to lose it. I'm going to lose something or miss out on something or miss an experience or a ride now. In that sense it's changed my life. That wasn't a question, that was a comment but I thought it was sort of important to share that with you.

00:17:06 John Daub: I'm going to go back. The questions are coming in pretty fast. The Ghibli Museum. I can't get permission to film there. Sorry, they're Disney. Disney doesn't like YouTubers. What is the main highlights of your hitchhike trip? William. Did you buy the DVD, William? Did you get the DVD, William? Because they're all going to be on there. I have to say there really are... Neil on this plastic here.

00:17:43 John Daub: There are too many highlights on this trip. I'd say highlights. I really can't pin it down. The challenges that I've experienced have been highlights. The people that picked me up were highlights. I think I'm just going to hold the camera. I think if you gamble I think you're going to understand this. Maybe. People who gamble might understand this. Have you ever won something? Did you ever win in a game? Like poker or slot machines or something. If you ever won, you get this exhilaration from it. You get this excitement. I go out there and I beat myself up hitchhiking on the side of the road. People laugh at me. People wave at me. Some people encourage me. Lots of people will drive by before they pick you up.

00:18:41 John Daub: But the feeling that you get when somebody stops and invites you into their car to take you to the next destination is so exhilarating. It really feels good. Because you feel the kindness of the person stopping. You feel that connection. You feel this warmth every time somebody stops. It's sort of similar to winning as well. Because you have gotten a ride. You've hit a jackpot. In the sense that you've done it. You've found somebody who's going to take you to the next destination. The challenge is now the goal has been achieved. That's a good feeling. It's the same thing when you work hard towards a goal and you achieve the goal. Maybe it's something similar to that. It really is an addictive feeling. That is the highlight. When somebody stops it's a highlight. Every time I made a sign I found a place to hitchhike and I stood there for sometimes 2-3 hours and somebody stopped that's a highlight. That felt good. All the pessimism and stuff that was in my mind all the bad stuff that might have happened all the hard work and how bad my feet were hurting and how my back was hurting from holding up the sign or my shoulders. I was excited and got into the car and I had a lot of energy every time.

00:20:15 John Daub: Great, great question. How do you charge electronics? I stay in hotels. I had to stay in hotels sometimes. Basically the reason why is to charge the stuff. Sometimes there are places the bath, the onsen, the saunas where I took a bath I'll ask them can I charge my stuff they say yes. I record with a lot of outlets so I know and anybody who travels knows that when you're on the road you're very welcome you need to have something that allows you to plug in more than one thing. The strip, the outlet strip that I have has space for I think 7 plugs. So I plug that into one and then I can plug in 7 things and there's even some USB ports on there. The stuff charges pretty quickly. The drone batteries charge within usually with all three of them I have three drone batteries for the Mavic Pro they'll recharge in an hour or less than an hour. My iPhone 7 plus recharges twice as fast as the 6 plus. I guess it's the new technology, the battery. The GH5, I've got about six batteries for it so I don't have any problems with that but those batteries charge pretty quickly. The Osmo Mobile batteries charge pretty quickly.

00:21:36 John Daub: I usually am okay and I have a 20,000 megahertz I guess a megawatt hertz I don't know what the conversion is but I have two big batteries and I have another battery for my laptop the Dell computer in case I'm on the road too long and I can't get a chance to charge it but Japan is such a modern country that there's always a place to plug in there's always a place to recharge but I've stayed in hotels just for that reason. To recharge. That's a great question.

00:22:12 John Daub: Let's see here. Q&A for another eight minutes. I gotta go to bed. It's early, early morning tomorrow. How long is the trip? So far, Sonia, it's been over five weeks so it'll be about a month and a half which is two weeks longer than I thought it would be. But it's worth it. Have you washed your coat? I wash the coat every three, four days.

00:22:39 John Daub: Peter. Yeah. Please visit another onsen. I will. I'm intending to visit one. There's an onsen on the way that I knew I heard about the last time I hitchhiked and I didn't stop in. I'm gonna try to stop in somehow. It's very unique. I don't wanna tell anybody about it yet. There's a lot of weird onsen in Hokkaido that are different than anywhere else in Japan. Girlfriend must be loving it. Not really. Not really. Are you going to come back to the States? I mean, I come back to visit at Christmas time and other times at the year to visit family. Orange jacket matters. It sure does. Where can we buy the famous orange jacket? I got it at Costco last fall. A couple of people mentioned that they saw the jacket at Costco as well. So I think it was $30 and I bought it because of the color.

00:23:41 John Daub: Peter, you're very welcome for answering that question. Where are you headed next? Tomorrow I'm going to BA. BA is near Furano which is famous for the blue pond. Please Google blue pond right now. Go to Google and Hokkaido blue pond. And you're gonna see what I'm gonna livestream tomorrow morning, okay? So, yeah. Come back tomorrow morning and I'm gonna be livestreaming something very very special. I'm gonna try to do it from the drone. Livestream from the drone. I don't know if I can do that via YouTube yet. I'll try. I'll livestream anyways from the blue pond of BA. It's near BA. B-I-E-I-A. I'll go there in the morning. Then I'm coming back and I called the prison, Asahikawa Prison. They're not open over the Japanese holidays so I can't go to the prison. But behind the prison there is a katakuri which is a flower which is the hat of the mascot of the prison. This was in the comedy channel about three years ago that there was a Japanese prison that had a mascot. That's here in the city so I wanted to stop by and do some b-roll and come back later on in the year and film the prison mascot. But I've already talked with the prison PR team and it's pretty cool to connect with them and maybe do an episode with the prison. The blue pond. I'm not jumping in the blue pond because I won't come out of the blue pond. I'll become a swamp thing and a monster. I'm jumping into Cape Soya in a couple of days. Stop telling me to jump in the blue pond.

00:25:14 John Daub: Toby. Toby's asleep because he's in Los Angeles. So he won't be commenting on this. Toby. Please eat traditional sweets. Please, please, please, please. Okay. I have eaten traditional sweets. I ate one this morning. Mochi that the Mr. Morisue gave me. Which is really good. That's a traditional sweet. Are you getting the Wakkanai from Asahikawa? Yeah, I am. Maybe tomorrow or the next day. I'm flying back to Tokyo on Monday night. So I'll be back into business on Tuesday.

00:25:58 John Daub: Could you sell Only in Japan t-shirts? Yes, I will this year. Deer only in Antarctica. That's a cool name. Yes, I'll be selling Only in Japan t-shirts before the end of this year. You'll be able to have them order them before I guess in October. If I can get this whole set up early, then maybe by the end of summer. That's why I trademarked Only in Japan logo. It's legally trademarked. So it can't be taken from me. It's just something I had to do. Mochi is very good. There's a lot of ponds.

00:26:44 John Daub: So this is going to be part of an Only in Japan episode on ponds. This blue pond. So I'm going to film the heck out of it tomorrow. Are you Andy in NHK's English teaching program? No, I'm not Andy. I think I know Andy. The only show that I'm doing on NHK regularly was I did Tokyo Eye a lot on NHK World between 2008 and 2012. I think I was doing at least an episode a month. I've done almost 50 of them. Yeah, 50 of them. But I don't do them too often now. They have new people. I think it's a good thing to have new faces.

00:27:44 John Daub: I'm doing an NHK World show called Journeys in Japan in June. That's next month. So I'm going back to Tottori to do the summer festival there. I carry a torch and I climb down the mountain and there's so much amazing natural stuff to do. That's going to be Journeys in Japan I'm filming for NHK in June. So lots of jobs I'm going to be doing for NHK. But if you watch, there's a really good show on NHK. I think they did a pretty good job with it. It's called Teach Me Ninja Sensei. Has anyone seen Teach Me Ninja Sensei? It's an animated ninja show where ninjas from around the world, it's pretty cheesy, but ninjas from around the world are taught by another ninja about Japan. It's on NHK World and I'm the Indian voice. I'm the voice of the Indian ninja. I don't know why they made me... I'm an American, but my mother's from India. So I guess that makes me okay to be the Indian ninja. He's the yellow ninja with the mustache. So you'll hear my voice if you watch the NHK World Teach Me Ninja Sensei episodes. They wouldn't let me do a Gandhi accent or an Indian accent. My impersonations of Gandhi. But it's just a shame. But I'm going to be doing a Hindi accent. But we have a lot of fun with that show. I just do the narration. I don't do the animation part. I narrate the character. I'm so humbled to be part of that show. It's a fun show. And the other ninjas, I know all of them, all of the voices for the other ninjas. So it's pretty cool to see. I can't speak Hindi. I can't speak any Marathi or Kharag. My mother can. She can speak 4 or 5 Indian languages, I think. I can't speak any of it because my parents never taught me. I don't know. I know some Hindi words, but I get by with English okay in India. I've been to India maybe 5 or 6 times. I have a house in Mumbai.

00:30:35 John Daub: Let's see here. Do I know Matt Ault? I've met Matt maybe twice. The last time was at NHK. And Matt is a really... He knows a lot of stuff about Japan. He's a writer. He's an author. He's somebody who sets goals and he does them. He's a very smart guy. And very knowledgeable about Japan. I remember he was also who CNN called when the earthquake hit in 2011, March 2011. And CNN called Matt Ault. And he was giving what was happening on the ground in Tokyo at the time. So I know Matt is he's a very, very important guy here in Japan. And he's one of the voices on Japan to the rest of the world. Like one of the bridges I would say. There's a lot of people, foreigners here in Japan that are bridges from Japan to the rest of the world. Not just YouTubers. YouTubers are popular on YouTube. But there are people in the TV world and the publishing world, people who've written books that are also bridges to the rest of the world. There's so many other ways that people are connecting not just on YouTube. So I'm also fortunate enough to be connected with a lot of these other worlds as well before I started doing YouTube. That's what I was doing NHK. And those experiences on NHK have been a part of making this show. Because quality is important, isn't it? Quality is important. You gotta make good stuff. Because that's what people want. Only in Antarctica. Be safe. Thank you so much. I appreciate that.

00:31:55 John Daub: Any other YouTube collabs? Sure. I mean, I don't... I might collab with some people again soon. But I'm not in any hurry to do that. You know, I know you viewers who watch a lot of other J-vloggers or Japan vloggers like collaborations. I prefer to get people that you haven't heard from or people that you don't know. People like Kai and Kevin Reilly. People that don't have YouTube channels I like to introduce them as well. People who are specialists in something. I'll do collaborations with other YouTube. The only YouTuber that I did a collaboration with was Life Where I'm From. I helped with the camera work and translating for Greg's episode on houses in Japan which is really good. He's got an amazing channel. Greg from Life Where I'm From. And Angela Internationally Me was on the Shibamata show. So those are pretty much the only YouTube collaborations I've done. Every YouTuber is different. Everybody has a different approach. And collaborating I don't like... It's hard. I like co-reporters but I don't particularly like to collaborate. I don't feel a need to be on another channel or... I don't feel the need but I would do it for you. I don't feel the need I don't feel like I need to collaborate. I come up with ideas. I make content. I focus on what I'm doing. I don't focus on what other people are doing. I see when somebody makes an episode about Suicide Forest I get a hundred emails asking me to do the same thing. That's not me. I'll do something before everybody else will do it because that's what I try to do. I try to find original content. And I think that's my value. That's the show's value. Yeah. That's the show's value. I think you watch Only in Japan because you're going to discover something that you've never seen before. That's what I hope. The Tower Gate building in Osaka and the Nara Street Food episode I'm hoping that there were elements of that that you've never seen before. No YouTuber had broadcasted that before. So I'm very mindful trying to find original stories. Things that haven't been done before. I think that's what happens.

00:34:14 John Daub: Have you seen the hitchhiking videos from Eric and Kai? No, I haven't. You know there were people when I started this hitchhiking trip saying, you're ripping off Eric and Kai. I've never even seen I think I watched one Eric and Kai episode which was Dinner at 7-11 because it kept popping up on one of my episodes. And it was okay. I don't watch a lot of other YouTube content. I watch my friends' YouTube channels. I like Simon and Martina because I love the vibe that I get from watching the shows. I just get happy watching Simon and Martina stuff. I watch... um... That's about it. I don't watch a lot of YouTube. I watch Life Where I'm From because Greg is so thoughtful with the content that he makes that I have to watch. I feel like I learn from Greg's show. So I watch Life Where I'm From and Simon and Martina's show because they just make me happy. And I watch... Oh, What's Inside with Lincoln and Dan. They're friends of mine that came to Japan last year and we cut open a gachapon so What's Inside. I watch their stuff because those two are really fun and I like them a lot.

00:35:44 John Daub: Gosh, I don't watch a lot of YouTube. I'm random when I watch. I watch a lot of stuff. I don't watch any particular people. But I try to broaden Japan. I've watched some of his stuff. None of the stuff lately. It's been a couple of months since I've seen any of his shows. But I remember when I first started YouTubing I remember his stuff would pop up on the same playlist or the same recommended videos as mine I'd watch and he's got a really great sense of humor. So when he does that stuff when he does the sarcastic stuff and just sticks to what he's really good at, his shows are really awesome. When he tries to be a reporter I think that's more of a... It feels like he's doing it as a job. But I can tell he loves what he does and that's good. Everybody does a great job. Every YouTuber in Japan has their own style. And I don't copy those styles and for collaborations sometimes they just don't fit. It doesn't help to collaborate with somebody who has such a different style. That man, Yuta for example, I watched a couple of his stuff where he does street interviews and I would never collaborate with him because what's... I mean, what would I do? I would be his gimp on the side like... There's no reason for me to collaborate and do street interviews. I would do my own street interviews. I don't need him to do a street interview with. He's very good at what he does and I would do it in my own way. So to do a collaboration would make any sense. Would it? Maybe I'm wrong. Anybody still there? Anybody there? Uh... Let's see here. Everybody's gone. Got cut off. Sorry. Battery died. Battery died. I'm in my tent now.

00:37:56 John Daub: Um... So let's go back here. Phil Lam, thank you. Changu, Chi Chong channel. Changu. We need to see John drunk at least once. Doing good. You look good. Changu. Big fan. Thank you, Changu. Shout out to Changu. EPW... ETW389 Canadian couple here. We love Japan. Thank you. Have a beer with us. Thank you. Have a beer with us next time we're in Japan. Yeah, sure. Give me contact. I get a lot of people replying to me. Writing to me on Facebook and Instagram and I try my best to meet up with people if I'm in Tokyo. That would be great. Always looking for it. I'm gonna do some summer meetups as well. So I'm guessing that a lot of people have left while the battery charged. That's true, right? Somebody write something. Or else I'm gonna end this feed. I don't see any comments coming in.

00:39:18 John Daub: Alright, there's some comments. There are some people back. Sorry. The battery died. Now I have it. I'm charging it. I am sorry for those people who suddenly saw me cut off. I'm back in my tent now. So we're left. We're back on. We're back on. Yeah. Let's see here. So lots of people going. Still here. John is back. Yeah. Welcome back. I'm powered up. My phone is back. I even brushed my teeth and got into the tent. Alright, let me put this. I have this light that I have for my tent. Camping is just fun. Let me just say that right now. Camping is just fun. I mean I could be staying in a hotel. Yeah. I choose camp. I choose camp. I like this tent. This company, Montbell. Do you see this? Montbell. Or Montbell in English. Montbell. They gave me a big discount on this tent and sleeping bag and this pad and this vest. They couldn't sponsor the trip but they did help out so I'm very thankful for Montbell. Which is an adventure company that makes their own sportswear and tents and stuff. They make some good stuff. And I'm happy to have had some 30% of their support. That's what I got off the goods. So not bad. Thanks Montbell. Questions. Where are you? I'm in a tent. I'm in Asahikawa. Let me put this camera down here. I'm in Asahikawa. I have two iPhones. This is the iPhone 7 Plus. This is the selfie cam. The selfie cam is very good in low light. So I've been surprised with the quality. When I use the Osmo, I use this little selfie camera and I'm very very happy with the results on the front camera on the iPhone 7 Plus. I'm very surprised by it.

00:41:34 John Daub: I'm right now getting the Google — no no no no no no delete. Later. The one thing with Apple is they keep telling me to install upgrades. I'm not going to do that Apple. Okay? I'll take a virus. Just stop it. Um... Okay. Here we go. Google Maps. I'm going to show you exactly where I am on the map. So then killers can come to my tent and destroy me. I'm not going to zoom in that close. Alright. Here's a map. Here's the map of Japan. I started down here. I'm now up there. So let's just say I've made a lot of progress. Basically, yeah. All I have to do is get to the very top. Sorry. I'm moving the map. There's Hokkaido. That's where I am right now. The northern most major city. And tomorrow I'm going up here. That's my goal. No. Right there. That's my goal. And Wakkanai. So right now I'm in Asahikawa. I love Asahikawa. I really love Asahikawa because oh my gosh. I can't tell you I can't tell you how much I love Hokkaido in general. The people are so friendly. I can get rides here. People stop and people um. I spent the night in somebody's house in Sapporo. Whoa. I got an afro. Whoa. Um. That's sort of cool. I spent the night in people's house that I don't know. In Sapporo. So friendly people are here. The guy who picked me up yesterday. You can see his picture. One of them was a CEO of a company. The other one. One of the nicest guys that I met. He picked me up in a truck. We flew the drone together. Um. We had ramen together. And then he drove back home. Oh lord. I'm having so much fun. Um. Here in Hokkaido. And I'll be back for sure. I had a lot of fun. I met two really nice people in Hakuba. Um. I'm gonna go back to Hakuba in the summer to visit them. Just for private. And just have fun with them because they're such nice people. I've met so many nice people on this trip.

00:44:09 John Daub: Ah. So Asahikawa. Great place. Camping. This camping place is right near the station. It's freaky. There's toilets. There's place to wash. There's a place I could start a campfire. Right near the station. It's creepy. It's creepy cool. I mean like so cool. It's so cool. It's like why is it so cool? Um. Alright. I'm going back through the questions. Don't forget the Russian signs. Yeah. Yeah. Fourteen years ago Russian signs all over the place. That was cool. So that'll be in the DVD. Are you gonna do Are you going to go live with your jump or save it for the DVD? I'll go live. Oh yeah. I'm gonna do it from different angles. You're only on the live. This is why the DVD is good. Okay. The jump is a big part of the DVD. The jump is a big part of the DVD. Ah. It's the final ending and I know it's gonna be cold and I know it's gonna suck for me. But I know it's gonna be good for you. So ah. Ah. I have to do it. And you're gonna get one angle on the livestream but the DVD will have more than one angle. I might get the drone up. Um. I have the DJI Mavic Pro. I really really love this drone. This is how big it is. And the DJI Mavic Pro has, has ah. It flew today. I'm flying it more and more in Hokkaido because it's, it's, it's okay to fly in Hokkaido but not Honshu is more difficult. The island. That's how big the drone is. There it is. And I have a little ah cover on the camera. I put little ah. Protectors on the. Where the wings go. But that's it. That's the drone. This is crazy. So the Mavic Pro. I really love this drone. And um. It takes me 90 seconds to set it up. It takes me 90 seconds to put it away. And I can move on before the police come and tell me not to film there. No no no. There are rules in Japan. There's a 30 meter rule. Stay 30 meters away from buildings. Stay 30 meters away from cars. 30 meters away from people. And if you follow those rules then you'll you won't have any problems in Japan. You can't. And there are red zones where you can't film anywhere. Um. DGA has a map. Of where you can film and where you can't film in Japan. And I'm very very careful about that. Because I don't want to get in trouble. It's. I like to I like to do things by the book because this is a job where people when you film um a location you have to think about people's reputations about people's um it's more than just for you. When you film like a business and you introduce their food it's more than just you. It's their business. So you have to be thoughtful about how you do it. Um you can be honest but you also have to be thoughtful because you don't want to ruin somebody's livelihood.

00:47:26 John Daub: Um so you ask. You ask in advance. Can I film here? Can I film? Um I went to a Asahikawa's most popular ramen shop. One of them. It's called Aoba. And ah I talk with the owner. The shop's been open for 70 years. Aoba. And um I went in there. I gave them my business card. Always have a business card when you're in Japan. I have an Only in Japan business card. You want to see it? I'll show you the one side. And then the other side from a very far distance. Let's see here. Where's my meishi case? So Aoba-san is three generations of of ah people making the ramen there. And I met the the grandson and I met the father but the grandfather is no longer So I have a meishi case. Always have a meishi a business card with you. No business card no job. Okay? It's as simple as that. Okay. There you go. I have an Only in Japan business card. Show you the other side very quickly. And I put in my phone number and where to search and the information on the show. And there it is. Screenshots of all the episodes I've done. And I give this to people and go here you are. And they give me their business card. And after they get your business card they know who you are. And they'll let you film. And then you don't have to ah and then you get really good shots. And you get behind the scenes shots. I got an interview with the the father who told me about 70 years of the... What the hell is that? The heck is that animal?

00:49:33 John Daub: Do you hear that? What the hell is that animal? Did you hear that? What the heck is that animal? Is that a fox? I saw foxes. Is it a fox? I saw a fox walking around the tents before sunset. That's not cool. I don't want them outside my tent circling my tent and start you know screeching like that. You know what? There's no one really staying here the night. It's just basically me. I don't see any other tents around here. And I can't stay in a hotel. This is the Japanese holiday. All the hotels are booked. The hotel that I stayed in, the Tokyo Inn last night. It was like $40 a night hotel. Which is just a little bit more than a capsule by the way. Sometimes it's cheaper to stay in a hotel. They didn't have a room tonight. So I had no choice but to camp. And now I'm camping in a free camping spot that the tourist organization said that anybody can camp here. And there's like animals screeching. And people are saying they're foxes on the chat here. And um No it's not You know what? Sasa? It's cold tonight. It was cold last night. But tonight it's pretty warm. It's getting down to about 7 degrees Celsius. But I have these things. These pads to keep me warm. I got these from the people's house in Sapporo. They apparently have a crate of them. See these things here? You open it up and you shake it. And they get to about 50 degrees Celsius. Which is, I don't know, like 110 degrees. This one Yeah this one gets to about 53 degrees Celsius it says here. That's pretty warm. So if I have 3 or 4 of these inside my sleeping bag You know what? I'm gonna be sleeping in Singapore tonight. Okay? And Singapore is pretty hot during the day. You don't need a sleeping bag in Singapore. Or India for that matter. So I'm doing pretty good. And I had 2 beers which also helps me feel pretty warm. You know, not too bad. The fox is here. The fox will mark territory on the side of your tent. Alright I'm gonna Deez hole. So this comes from Deez hole. The fox will mark territory on the side. I sure as hell hope not. Because this tent is gonna be used again and I don't want fox pee all over it. Okay? So foxes, if you're gonna, you know if you're watching this foxes and they might have internet connection or wifi somewhere in the forest. Don't come pee on my tent because I'm gonna attack you with my tripod and I got all this masking tape here. I'm gonna tape you up and catch you. Crazy like a fox.

00:53:13 John Daub: Do they have campgrounds in Japan? Yes, but they're all inconveniently located. Camping in Japan. Alright this is what I want. Okay. I had to I'm gonna lay down cause I'm tired. Okay. So this is this is what I understand. Okay? Rotate device. This isn't gonna work. I don't have a pillow. I'm getting tired of this side here. Okay. Alright. This is cool. Alright. Von, thank you my friend. Very much for the super chats. Thank you. Um. Alright. So let me see here. What was I talking about? Oh camping. Camping in Japan. Camping in Japan means that you're gonna set up a campfire. You're going to make you're gonna pretty much like live. Make trash. What I've been doing on this trip is not camping. It's sleeping. I set up a tent. I don't start a fire. I set up a tent. I sleep. I wake up. I put my tent away. I leave. That's not camping. That's not considered camping in Japan. Camping in Japan is where you drive. You drive there. And you set up a tent. And you spend the day there. And you make a fire. And you cook. And you have a barbecue. And you sleep in the tent. And then that's camping. What I'm doing is I'm like surviving. I'm like crashing. I put up my tent at 8pm and I get out at 5am. And that's what I do. It's different things. So I'm not camping. I'm pitching a tent. I don't know if that makes sense to you. So it's different. It's same but different.

00:55:06 John Daub: When I was in Kanazawa, if you looked at the Instagram, I tell the story. This is stuff in the DVD. I can tell you. I was in Kanazawa I guess it was about two weeks ago. Kanazawa hotels are pretty expensive and they were all booked anyways. I couldn't have found one. I decided to camp in the park because it wasn't going to rain that night. And I put up my tent and I finished putting it up. And then a woman came on a bicycle and she looked at me and I looked at her and I said, Konbanwa (good evening). And she said, Konbanwa. And about five meters from my tent, maybe even closer I think, she started making a house out of cardboard. And she was homeless. I got into my tent and I could hear her setting up the cardboard. Her house. She was really making a nice house. It was cold as well. I was actually pretty worried. I was going to give her one of my sweatshirts or something. I thought maybe she needed to stay warm. She did a really good job making her house. This wasn't her first time making a cardboard house. So she's probably she might have been warmer than me. There was a guy bouncing the ball around Kanazawa Park as well. So that was pretty annoying. In the morning she was there and I was there putting out the tent. And I talked with her for 20 minutes. Really, really nice woman. She was homeless. I didn't ask her why she was homeless, but she was sleeping in the park. And that's no different than what I was doing. I'm not breaking any laws. I'm not homeless. But sleeping in the park is not breaking the law.

00:57:00 John Daub: About that story with the homeless lady. I kind of get chills when I think about it. She... In the morning, we talked for 20 minutes. It wasn't really a big conversation, but I got the feeling that she did not talk to a lot of people. I guess in Japan there's not a lot of homeless people and she must be embarrassed not wanting to talk with other people. I felt really bad for her. I didn't feel bad because she was homeless. I felt bad because she didn't have interaction with other people. There's a difference. We all go through tough situations in our life. Of course she did. But I don't want to bring that up. The bad stuff part of her life. So we talked about the good stuff. We talked about the guy bouncing the ball at night. At the end of it, she gave me a banana. She had bought three bananas. She got three bananas. She gave me one of them. I gave her a mikan. I had four little oranges. So I gave her one of the oranges. That was like a little exchange. In the end, I got a banana. She got an orange. We got some good stories. We sort of made friends. She got on her bicycle. She asked me where I was from. I said I'm from America. She said to me, I love America. She got on her bike and she rode away. I was like, wow. Okay. That was quite a story. That was quite an experience. We got on our bikes and we were connected with our sleeping in the park. I don't have any problems with camping and sleeping in the park. That's an interesting question.

00:58:51 John Daub: What else do we have? Would you collaborate with Abroad in Japan? If he calls me. Hey Chris, call me. Yeah. We know each other through Simon and Martina. I met Chris the first time at Simon and Martina's Halloween party. I met Simon and Martina a year and a half ago when they first came to Japan. We had a mutual friend and they were filming my friend. I talked with Simon for a while and made friends. Then I said, well, let's go get a beer. That was it. We became friends. I don't... All the YouTubers that you know from watching YouTube, I know them through Simon and Martina. They're new to Japan. They've only been here for about a year and a half. Yeah, about a year, a little bit over a year and a half now. Thank you, Simon and Martina. Because I wouldn't know Chris. I wouldn't know Mikaela and Sharla. Who is that? Who is at the party? Okay, you know what? I think I have a picture. I think you all know the other YouTubers more than I know. I just know them as nice people.

01:00:15 John Daub: This is what it's like to live in a tent. I wish I got the bigger tent. Okay, here it is. So, Sharla, who's a YouTuber, her name's Sharla in Japan. She's very, very nice. Very down-to-earth person. Like, just one of those people that's easy to talk to. She took a picture. Let me see if I can get the picture. I put it somewhere. Who tagged me? I guess it was one of the YouTubers tagged me. It's on the Instagram, actually. If you're an Instagrammer, I have an Instagram called Only in Japan. And in Halloween, a lot of people... Well, Simon and Martina at a Christmas party. And this was the first and only time I met all these YouTubers. Yeah? Okay. So, here's the picture. Let me see. It's pretty bright. Hold on a second. Let me un-brighten it for you. There you go. There's the picture. It's on my Instagram, okay? So you can see it on Halloween. Hold on. Yeah, November 1st, 2016. And you can see here... Ah, you guys are in my tent. Here's the picture. So this is the first time I met all the other YouTubers at Simon and Martina's party. And there's Chris. Okay? He's wearing like a serial killer mask. And this is from Sharla's phone. I think. Hold on a second. That's Sharla in the orange, sticking her tongue out. And that's... That's me with the afro. And this is... This girl here is a girl named um... I don't know what her name is. Hold on. Taylor. Taylor. That's Taylor. And this one is Rachel and Jun. There's Jun and there's Rachel. And I have the afro on the top. And there's... That's Makayla. She's also a YouTuber. I think that's it. And then Martina's in the back. And Simon doesn't like photos. So he runs away. So that's... That was a Halloween party. That's the only time I got a... And there's a Christmas party. But that was a time where everybody was together. A lot of the YouTubers. And that was fun. But I don't... Would I collaborate with them? I don't know. What I do I think is different. Why not? Is that Jun? Yeah, that's Jun. Man, Jun is a cool guy. Jun's a really cool guy. He's so cool. And I didn't even talk to him that much. Just he gives off that cool vibe.

01:04:16 John Daub: Will she be an Only Independent Guest star? Who? Manny? Who are you talking about? Let's see here. I tagged John in the pic that was... Okay, thank you. I'm gonna go back to Instagram. Usually I go back and do it. Kavita Babla. I love Sharla. Yeah, I love Sharla too. Do you know Eric and Kaid from Tokyo? No, I don't know. I don't know them. Kawaii Arcade Masters and Kawaii Falting. I don't know what that means. I'm now scrolling through your questions. I only know myself. Darude. Yeah, I only know myself. Sasa. Chris Broad is hilarious. Yeah, he has his moments. I think a lot of people... You know, everybody has their own style. Hi John, I like your videos. This is from SZ, by the way. Will you livestream on YouTube or Facebook? I mean, you know, a lot of people don't realize this. The Only in Japan Go channel is not the Only in Japan channel. It's a separate channel. So, Only in Japan Go is all livestreaming. So if you're... I'm not gonna livestream anymore on the Only in Japan main channel after this trip. But if you go to Only in Japan Go, which is this channel, I'm gonna be streaming all the time. This is what the channel is. So... Actually, this channel doesn't make a lot of money. I do this just for people who are really interested in this show. So the streaming is a little bit expensive to do this right now. I'm using 4G, the Docomo service. So it comes out like I need a lot of bandwidth. But it's okay. This is... I like to be on location. I like to be somewhere. Not in my house. I like to be... Right now I'm in Asahikawa, which is the northernmost city of Hokkaido, streaming from a tent. I like that. So I need 4G. I need this signal. And that's what Only in Japan is. The Only in Japan Go channel is GO! You know, go somewhere. Don't be at home. Get the Osmo out, nice smooth video, and go somewhere. And take you with me. I wanna take you. I like Only in Japan Go. Allison, that's right. You got that right. Thanks for liking it. Because... I'm not saying it, and they don't realize it's different. It's a different channel. So if you subscribe and get the notifications, then you'll be able to see the show. Live. Because I wanna take you with this channel, and separate it. The quality of the content is different. The style is different. And I wanna take you with me. When we do this. Right now, you're in the tent with me. It's just scary. It's not a very big tent, but you're in here with me. And that makes me feel... Right now, for the way this trip's going, this livestream makes me feel more comfortable. Makes me feel like I'm with friends. And that's you who have subscribed to the Only in Japan Go channel. You're friends. That's how I feel.

01:07:51 John Daub: Stephanie Deleno. Have you ever come across someone living on the streets? I live near a major city, and seeing homeless people is normal here. I'm curious if it's the same in Japan. Stephanie, that's a good question. You know, Greg from... I'm not sure if you know him. Life where I'm from... I can't say enough about Greg's stuff. This is really good. Greg did a show on homelessness in Japan. It exists. I talked with people about why homelessness exists in Japan. There's lots of answers. But... The reality is that the people that are homeless and stay homeless, it's probably because that they have debts. They lost their house.

01:08:36 John Daub: I have to tell you something. Japan is a very poor country. Japan's society is so... There's so many great things to love about it. But there are also some things that make it hard. Community is not there. If you need to borrow money, you can't rely on your family to borrow money. If you have a bad situation that might harm another family member or bring them down, usually the family member will be separated and not help you. This isn't for everybody, but I've noticed that if you have some bad times, you can't always count on family to bail you out. And in the United States, the one thing I love about America is that the community will help. Especially, you know, if you go to a church, the community really helps you out if you're in need. That's where you go. You don't go to the government. You go to your community and people help. That's my experience. That might be different for you. I understand. But in Japan, there's not that same kind of community. If you don't have friends, you can become so isolated in Japan. You can become so lonely in Japan. This is for the Japanese people. You can become so separated from other people. I don't know how it happens because it doesn't happen like that in the United States. It can! But in Japan, it's especially strong. And people feel lonely here. Even in the city of Tokyo with all the millions of people. So, I don't even remember what I was talking about. Homelessness. So homeless people, they just get separated. And nobody, even the family, don't want to help them. And that's sad. That's very sad.

01:10:22 John Daub: So homeless people can camp at the park. Yeah. And you know what? Homeless people are usually very good people. The people who pick me up, they're not killers. They're usually very good people. And the people that are homeless people, they're victims of circumstance. Most of them don't have mental disorder. Mental disorder, those people are usually taken care of by the state. The people who are hitchhiking have no mental disabilities. Don't have any rights to to say, to take advantage of anything that the state has to provide. They lost things through maybe gambling or just situation, or the husband did something bad and the wife is on the street. The homeless woman that I met, she didn't say, but I asked the international, the tourist agency about this situation. I said, I met a homeless woman. What's the deal? She probably, something happened with her family where she can't get help. Could have been gambling. But when she got married, she left her family. And maybe something happened. Maybe he died. Just the amount of situations, possibilities are endless. But, something happened. And she's on the streets. And she was a good, good person. And it broke my heart. When I left, and I walked back to Kanazawa Station to get my stuff out of the locker and then move on to the expo, I think, yeah, I was partially in tears. I was like, how could that happen? Why did I let that woman leave? Why didn't I give her my sweatshirt? Maybe she was cold. Why didn't I do more? Why didn't I do something? But I don't think she, that's why we were talking. And I don't think that's why we met. I think we met just for the contact. Just to show a piece, just to show that we were human for 20 minutes. And that was enough. But I'm just thinking about it. And I'm tired. I'm going to go to bed in a minute. Don't be depressed. Don't be depressed. I'm sad because she was right in front of me. But she's doing what she has to do to survive. And she's doing it better than anybody else. And in that, she should be proud of herself. That's the only way I can think of it. I can't. But, gosh. Summer's coming. She'll stay warm. People, you know, as I told you before, in the beginning of this livestream, you know, you fail. You take a step back. And then you take a step forward. And people sometimes take a step back. And they fall all the way to the bottom. And then you take three steps forward. Luck changes. And if you just keep going forward. So, I don't want to dwell on that. Gosh, if I close my eyes...

01:13:47 John Daub: Myank Takur, if I close my eyes, I will absolutely fall asleep. It's, that's a good question. What time is it? Oh my, it's 9.42. 9.42 p.m. Um, Darude, depression isn't something to be made fun of. To me, it brings out the fact that we all need care. Yeah. But, I know some people are depressed. I mean, I was depressed a couple of days ago. Depression comes in different, different forms. Everybody is absolutely different. And, um, it's not something to make fun of. I don't know why you bring that up, but I'm not making fun of it. I don't know if anybody else is. There isn't anything to make fun of with depression. Absolutely not. Um, we, what I'm trying to say is I don't know why she was homeless. But at that moment, when we were, um, communicating for 20 minutes, she was not depressed. And neither was I. And we were the happiest people on the planet. And for those 20 minutes, it was really, really special. And I was sad to see her go. She left. She left me. I didn't leave her. She ate, she ate my orange, and I ate her banana. And then she said, thank you. She said, I love America. And she left. And, ah, if anyone was depressed, it was me. I think she's gonna be just fine. At least that's what I like to, to assume. Um, we just, with people, you just really don't know. Always think of the best. Um, good connections make people's days better. Um, Mega, yeah, absolutely. Um, Mayang Takor, absolutely. Drumroll. Of course. Uh, Dragon Phi, thank you. I'm not quite a legend. I'm just some dude, I'm a dude living in a tent. If a dude in a tent is legend, my gosh, the standards are pretty low.

01:15:47 John Daub: Lastly, how long did it take you to learn Japanese? Um, I've answered that a couple of times. I'm, I'm always learning. I'm still learning. I learned words today. I learned an expression, um, yesterday. Once in a lifetime, was the expression I learned. So the, from, in Japanese, so the, learn hiragana, katakana, make flashcards, and then start reading signs and menus, and, uh, your, your Japanese will grow from there. That's, that's how I can say it. It's an ongoing process.

01:16:27 John Daub: Jason Sellers, you, John Dobbs, staying in a tent. Not just dude. Maybe not. You must, uh, might want to start asking for that. Yeah. Allison, can you please autograph the DVDs? Um, if you bought the DVD through Kickstarter, uh, I'm gonna send out a survey when I get back to Tokyo next week. And in the survey, just write that you want, want a signed copy, and I'll sign it. Um, I'm happy to do that. And I'm happy to do anything that makes it special for you. Um, Randolph, thanks a lot for bringing up the foxes. I haven't heard them, um, howling in a while. But, you know, thanks for bringing that up. Right before I go to bed. Yeah. You're gonna be on Toby level if you keep that up. I'm just kidding. Ah, Toby. Um, Hamon123, Is it tough in the beginning when you first moved to Japan? Yeah. Everybody, uh, everybody goes through, foreigners moving to Japan, goes through something that we call, uh, expats here, the six month blues. And after the six months, after six months, all of these, like, wow, I'm in Japan! Oh my god, look at all this stuff! I'm eating sushi! I'm eating tempura! I'm in a restaurant! There's a subway! This is Tokyo! This is amazing! After six months, you realize that you're here, and all that newness goes away, and then you hit some, the six month blues. And then you adjust to living, or you don't. And you go home. After six months, you sort of realize what you wanna do. And that's generally called the six month blues. Um, I've seen it, I've seen it a lot. After 20 years, almost 20 years here, I've seen a lot of people go through the six month blues. After they get off the boat, and arrive to Japan, you can tell the people who are new to Japan, and the people who haven't hit that mark, six months, is a big difference. Um, so it was hard. It's hard to adjust. Who's Toby? Bella1234? Somebody clue Bella in who's Toby is, because I can't, I can't, I can't deal with Toby before they're back. Why even bring him up? Vaughn? Yeah, why even bring up the name? I'm not even gonna mention it again for the rest of the night. Okay. Um, people are liking the fact that I got a suntan. Uh, yeah, I've been outside for five, six weeks, with a sign, hitchhiking. Of course I got a suntan. Uh, it's crazy people. Uh, you should make a drive in Japan series. I will. I'm getting my driver's license this year. You're gonna see some pretty, uh, you're gonna see a shift in the series. Um, Only in Japan, uh, this year. This year is a big year, in the sense that things are gonna shift. Brown sexy. Okay, alright, I'm, keep going. Oh, those crazy people. Who here is annoyed by this person named B? I'm not sure. Don't worry about it. Just, just ignore it. Just ignore it. Why did you move to Japan? I forget. Toby is our buddy. I don't mind him. I've been writing, uh, messages to Toby. I'm giving him a free DVD. You know, I blame Toby for a lot of stuff, but it's really just, just for fun. Toby's a good guy. He's actually a really happy guy. He's got a beautiful girlfriend. Uh, he told me about her. He's 21. He's half my age. Come on. Toby's living a better life than I am. He's in Los Angeles. Gosh. Good weather over there.

01:20:23 John Daub: Any plans to visit, uh, Rebun? Yeah. Um, you know, I, I really wanna revisit Rebun. It just depends tomorrow. I gotta get up at 5 in the morning to, at least, 5 in the morning and get to, and, and film, uh, the Blue Pond. And if I can do that, then I'll go to Rebun if, on Saturday. It also depends on the weather in Wakkanai. Gosh, I wanna go to Rebun so bad. Um, are you using pocket WiFi? No, I'm using 4G. I'm using Docomo and Softbank. I have 50, 50 gigabytes of data per month. So it's a lot. I love how Toby is this mythical figure. And you know what? Sonic Toby loves that he's a mythical figure, too. I think Toby's digging it, too. Konnichiwa. Um, will you be doing a Tokaido tour? Um, I did, I, I rode my bicycle from Tokyo to Kyoto, um, 10 years ago. That was a pretty big trip. I might do that again. Um, I'm going to bed in a minute. 81 minutes for this livestream. Mark Joseph, Del Rosiaro, Hi John, are you reserving the Sapporo video? You said you would definitely visit the Mochi Company. I did visit the Mochi Company. Um, I didn't livestream it. It's in the DVD. Um, and I might put it, some of it in a highlight video for Only Japan main channel. But I've, oh my lord. Yeah, two days ago I woke up at 5am. I woke up at 5am and, um, filmed the Mochi uh, place. Their factory was, is right next to their house. And we made mochi. And onigiri. And my lunch was mochi. And that was pretty cool. To see them, uh, the people who picked me up at their job. Um, you can hear the sirens. I'm still in the center of the city. But this is a pretty big park. If you look at Asahikawa, Asahikawa Station, you'll see some parks around the station. It's a pretty amazing place. Um, you said one, uh, one minute, 35 minutes. Jason Sellers. You got that right. Time flies, man. The jacket is from Costco. Ozzy the Ozzy. Yeah. Jacket's from Costco. Only Japan. Tobi t-shirts. That's a possibility, but I'm gonna have to give Tobi a cut. Cause he, he's deserved it. I guess. He deserves it, man. Um, Brendan, PW, John, your channels are so cool that you inspired my brother to visit Japan later this year. Awesome. Thank you. I'm glad to hear that. Earthquake? Not quite. Uh, didn't feel anything. Loud noises, sirens. I'm still in the city. Will you be able to get the DVD if we didn't do Kickstarter? Eventually, Destiny. Eventually you'll be able to get the DVD. Um, there's sirens. I don't know. They're going away. What's the best place you have visited in Japan on this trip?

01:24:24 John Daub: That's a hard one. I've visited so many places. The best places were the places I'd never visited before. And that there aren't that many because I visited most of them 14 years ago. I almost, I almost cried. I mean, I'm human, right? I don't, I'm human like everybody else, but do I have the picture on the other phone? Oh man, I'm going to bed. I gotta get a haircut. This is awful. Alright, I'm gonna show you another better picture than the one I showed you before. 14 years ago, I hitchhiked from Hokkaido to Kyushu. And uh, back then here's the photo. Back then, we didn't have the internet. Like, like we do today. We had the internet, but nothing like today. We didn't have social media, so I didn't keep in touch with most of the people. But there's one person I knew where he lived. Because I was hitchhiking in front of his toy store, and he came out and asked me if I was crazy. I said no. And he asked me what I was doing. I said hitchhiking. He asked me where I was going, and I said that way. And he took, he asked me into his toy store for coffee, and then he took me on the ride. And for 14 years, I did not have any contact until two days ago. And here's a picture.

01:25:06 John Daub: Okay. If you're in, seriously, follow the Instagram, because if you follow the Instagram. Here's the picture. The guy in the middle, the old guy right there, underneath there, that's Wakaki-san. Right there. Wakaki-san is the guy who picked me up 14 years ago. And uh, I hadn't seen him in 14 years. And when his, I went, walked in the toy store, and I asked his wife, is, uh, is, um, I have a picture of him from 14 years ago. I said, is he here? And he said, yeah, yeah, yeah, he still works here. His wife said, hold on, I'll call him. So she called him on the phone, and, and uh, I was pretty nervous. I hadn't seen the guy in 14 years. And I only met him for a day. We had coffee, and he, and he drove me to, to a place, and that was, that was it. And then he came out. And then I realized, that it had been 14 years, because he looked so much older, and he walked different. Um, he looked different, but he looked the same at the same time. He looked different he walked different, and looked different, and he looked older, but he looked the same. Like, I could still tell it was him. And uh, man, I almost lost it. Because he was a big reason, uh, you know, he was one of those people who helped me get from, from A to Z in 2003. And there he was again, standing in front of me, 14 years later, and the only person who connected the last trip to this trip. And uh, yeah, I almost lost it. Because that, that was the point that connected what I'm doing now with what I did then. So that, to me, that's a great picture. And, and you know what? We had coffee again, in his house. And he took me, he drove me again, to uh, the onsen in Noboribetsu. And uh, that was a great experience. He's 14 years younger. He's still going strong. He is still working. He's 85. He was um, no wait, he's 80. He was 65 when he, when I met him. And now he's 80. Yeah. Pretty cool. Pretty cool. Pretty, pretty cool. To uh, to be in that kind of situation again. That's what, you'll see a lot of this on the DVD. He still has the toy store. Uh, Linda, he still has the toy store. And the cool thing is that he started a museum. And in Hokkaido, he's one of two people who have collectible goods like that. Nobody, nobody in, there are very few people in Japan who still have toy stores like they did in the 1950s and 60s. He's one of them. And I realized in Noboribetsu, he's kind of a famous person because he's featured on TV a lot. I had no idea. He's featured on TV a lot. Uh, so is his son. His son's on NHK. as well. So I'm gonna meet his son when I go back to Tokyo. But uh, my gosh. It's, that's one of the highlights of the trip. To see an old face uh, from 14 years ago who picked me up. That's the only person that I really kept in touch with. I mean that's the only person I remember. I didn't keep in touch with him at all. And just like that, there he was. So Linda, can't wait to see the DVD. He has a museum. Yes. Uh, I, he didn't show me the museum but I'm coming back to Noboribetsu. I'm gonna see him again. Um, I really wanna see him again. You know, when people get, uh, up there in age, you know that things don't last forever. And you wanna go back and see them.

01:29:01 John Daub: Tender Cookie, I don't know how you get the DVD without a credit card. I'll, I'll try to find a way. What address might I visit someday? Um, toy store, Noboribetsu. That's all you need to know. You'll find him. I bet he was happy to hear your progress. Yeah, he was. We asked, he asked about my life and what I've been doing and I asked about his and we changed stories. That was pretty good. Um, Terrence, don't even mention demons. Just come on. I'm, come on. Come on now. I'm gonna pass I'm by myself in a very creepy place that's, it's just me, okay? Alright? Some people. That's real sweet. Uh, Anthony, I'm gonna get some sleep in a minute. And that was 30 minutes. We're going 90 minutes on this livestream. Oh my god. Karim, what are precautions you're going to take jumping in the cold ocean? Do I need to take precautions? I didn't think that far in advance. I was just gonna jump. I didn't think about it. That's some, you know what? I'll, I'll assess it when I get there. Don't plan in advance for something that you don't know about. I don't know. I've never jumped in the sea before in Hokkaido. You gotta do a re-naked man fest. Do I, Randolph? Uh, Jason Sellers, I really liked your video on Hell Valley. Yeah, that Hell Valley was a highlight of Noboribetsu because certainly wasn't that beer, the bear park, was it? The Hell Valley was pretty cool. I had fun with that. John, he is very close to you. What do you mean? Pial. I hope you're not trying to freak me out again. Uh, use PayPal. What's PayPal? Do your parents, I'm joking. Do your parents watch your show? Um, my mom does. My dad doesn't. Uh, sometimes. I'm not sure. I'm gonna call them after this, maybe. Maybe tomorrow. I'm gonna go straight to bed. How much time will the DVD be? How much time? You mean how long? I think about two hours. Or more. There's too much material. I have three, I think it's gonna be two and a half or three terabytes of data over the last five weeks. It's a lot of stuff I gotta edit. Hello from Finland. Uh, Mastas007, James Bond. How long DVD can I buy it even though I did not take part in the Kickstarter? Maybe, um, I have to process the Kickstarter orders first. Priority to those who ordered it already. Um, I'm a one man show. A one man band. So to speak. I gotta do, I have to do things in order and I can't do more than I can do. I can't make promises. I can't keep. Um, the one thing I learned about Japan, and this is an advantage that I have over younger people being here for twenty years, more important than the money. And maybe if you're younger and, you know, maybe you need to hear this too. Um, in Japan, something that's more important than money. Do you know what that is? It's, um, reputation. More important than money is reputation.

01:33:08 John Daub: On Kickstarter, there was something like seven hundred people who supported the Kickstarter. My responsibility is to those seven hundred people who supported me on Kickstarter right now. Those are people who paid and gave me their support and I have to go back and fulfill their request or else I'll disgrace myself and my reputation will go down. That's my priority. For all the people after that, I'll find a way, but I must first fulfill my obligation to those who have requested something from me. And then I can go on. And, um, if I can do a good job with the DVD and fulfill those requests, then that helps my reputation. And that's more important than the money I receive from the Kickstarter. Because that means in the next Kickstarter or the next project, people will have the confidence in me to support that again. And that's why I make even the Only Japan show, I try to make it good because I know I want you to watch again. I want you to believe in what you see. Each show, I don't want to waste your time. I want it to be good. Including this feed in the tent. Which is crazy. It's ninety minutes! I can't! It's ninety minutes! I'm going crazy! Um, some really good questions though. Tim Govan, are you still considered a Hina Gaijin or just Gaijin? Um, love the journey. Um, I don't know what I'm considered. I don't put titles on myself or anybody else. I mean, it's a good question. I don't know. I let other people put the titles on me and I don't care. Um, I stopped caring a long time- you know, once you hit- I don't want to talk about age or generalize on age, but once you hit forty, you really don't give a damn about little stuff anymore. You look at the big stuff. Okay? I don't care if on the trolls and the people call me names or this and that. You look at the big picture. Um, I don't care if people call me Gaijin or whatever the Japanese do that. I just- I blow that off. That's their way. At the end- you know what? They might say that when they first meet me. And at the end of it, they don't say it anymore. That's the way it works. You don't have to say your opinion all the time. Because people in general, if you talk to them and you don't push them, they'll change. The more you push them and fight them and try to change their opinion, the more you try to change them, the more they won't change. The more you don't- if you don't try, they naturally will gravitate- is that a word? Gravitate towards you. And then at the end, you'll change them. Not- and even if you're not trying to change them, you'll change them or make an impact on them. And that's been my experience with people in general. I'm preaching, sorry. I'm preaching.

01:36:18 John Daub: Um, uh, Karim. After Tokyo, what's the best city in Japan? You can get me in trouble, Karim. Um, I lived in 16 different cities. One of my favorites is Hiroshima. And I like Hiroshima because it's a combination of food, livability, and, um, people. People are friendly. And location. So, Hiroshima. Mmm, I like Kansai, but there are some young people here. This is still the holidays in Japan. Owls- Owl always love you, John. Thanks princess. Princess Bobby Bear. Have you made more livestreams for us later? Yeah, tomorrow morning. At the Blue Pond. If you had one charity to do, what would it be? Gosh, there's so many good charities, Randolph. I, I don't know. I don't know where to start. My brother has diabetes, so uh, juvenile diabetes. He's had it since a kid, so that would be a good charity. People, I, you know, anything with sickness. Anything with children. Um, my heart goes out to kids that have cancer. Gosh, just, I don't know. There's so many. I lost a lot of friends to cancer already. So, cancer is something- man. That sucks. I don't wanna, you know, it's not something to laugh about, but it's, it's just a way. I think, gosh, charity. I would give, I would give anything to defeat cancer and diabetes and all the other stuff. Man. I get friends who have, have suffered from lots of different stuff. Mm. I like small organizations. I like smaller organizations. The Red Cross. You know what? Red Cross will be fine. Whether or not I donate to them or not. Um, but the ones that won't be. Yeah. I don't know. There's so many charities. Gosh. Children's Miracle Network. Yeah. I, I, you know. I don't know. There's so many good charities. And, uh, yeah. We lose a lot of good people to cancer. The heck, the hell with cancer. Yeah. I can't agree. Uh, Jason? I can totally agree. Yeah. Then, Jason, next week, haircut. He, Jason, you know what? I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna film when I go back to Tokyo and get a haircut. And I was gonna get a shave and a haircut and put that in the DVD, cleaning my act up as part of the end of the trip. On how the trip changed my life. Yeah. I've been getting a haircut from the same person for the last eight years. In, uh, the same, same person. And, uh, we're good friends. What do you do after this, John? I edit this video. Kyle, that's what I do. And I, I will miss being on the road. I, I do like, It feels good to be out there and to get rides and meet new people. So, uh, I'll edit this. Are you scared to sleep? I am. That's why I'm still talking. Uh, you should get some sleep, yeah. I hear ya. Thanks, Mom.

01:39:04 John Daub: The tent face. Yeah... Try to forget it. Yeah, the internet's forever. And I don't mind. Only in Japan, go, I don't wanna edit this. This is, It is what it is. Uh, Linda, I've done an assortment of charity photography. That's really good of you. Um... Uh, yeah. I think when it comes to making videos, for me, I have a soft spot for Tohoku and what's happened up there with the tsunami and the um, highlighting areas in Tohoku is something that, you know, gosh, I wanna do more of. I, I really love that area of Japan. And I know that they're having a hard time. Also, some of the people. John's Hair Organization, we should donate to that. It's crazy, God! Leave my hair out of this. Uh, grow a beard. I can't. It doesn't connect. It's awful. I'm one of those dudes who has peach fuzz. I can't grow a full beard. There are people like that. Are you hitching back? No way. I'm flying. I cut my own hair. I cut my own hair once, too, on this trip. It's pretty, I didn't do a very good job. My barber is gonna kill me. He's gonna know right away that I cut my own hair. Um, come to Canada? I'd love to. Uh, Winnipeg? Um, I'm not sure about all the kisses, dude. But thanks for the offer. Uh, do you have noise-canceling headphones? No. Uh, what will happen to your boots? Trash. They're going, they're not gonna, I'll wear them again until the until they die. Ghost behind your tent? Had to do that. You never know if they're telling the truth. Noisy kids, they are. Okay, gosh, all these questions keep coming in. Thanks so much for that. Um, what company will you take back to Tokyo? Which company? Take back to Tokyo? I don't know what you mean. Uh, Sergio? Uh, how about coming to the UK? I have a lot of friends in the UK. I was just there, um, a month, a year and a half ago I was in the UK. Come to Bangladesh? Would love to. I'll stop by when I go to India. Dakar is a beautiful city, right? Have you been homesick? A little bit. Come to Holland? I've been to Holland many times. I've had friends in Almira, which is near Amsterdam, and I used to visit them all the time. My friends, Eric and Krishpan, and, um, Spiderman, but because he ate a spider once, so he called them Spiderman. And he, cause he also would drink too much of something called grandfather's water or grandpa's water, which is really rancid Dutch old alcohol. Uh, Spiderman, Eric, Jordy, gosh, I miss those guys. I gotta go back to Holland. Um, Son of the Cakes, you're awesome, so what's your next plan? Hugs from Israel? Ah! Um, my next plan is to go to uh, Wakkanai tomorrow if I can, and finish this trip. And have as much fun as possible. That's what I'm trying to do. Will you see Mr. Wakaki again? Wakaki, yeah! Yeah, I think I will. I'm sure I will. He's a really nice guy. Gosh, I met so many wonderful people on this trip.

01:42:40 John Daub: Mmm. I, you know, I'm gonna leave you with this. This is the last thing I'm saying. Ah, I've been thinking about this a lot recently. You are all connected to me through this show. I'm connected to you through this show, right? We're all connected through this show. And every time somebody picks me up, you're connected to them as well. And over this trip, what I've learned is that we're all people. I know this sounds cheesy and maybe I'm just tired, but we're all connected in one way or another. Um, and I, you don't, maybe in your lives you don't feel it, but over the course of this trip, I felt it. I felt this connection with everybody. Um, through this, through the live chat, which is why I let it go on for a hundred minutes, and through uh, through the people that I meet hitchhiking. And it's all, it's all really very much connected. And uh, you are all a very big part of that, and I appreciate it. Hey, I'm going to bed. It is getting cold, and I'm getting a little tired. I probably wouldn't have been able to sleep anyways with the kids yelling and the foxes howling. And the ghosts apparently behind my tent. Thanks a lot for reminding me that. But thank you all so much for watching uh, this for the last hour. Uh, two hours almost. Um, and I hope I answered a lot of your questions, and I really appreciate the support. Um, goodnight. It's hard to say, cause I, once I say goodnight, I gotta turn this light off up here that I put up on the tent, and that means I gotta go to bed. And uh, gosh, do I really wanna go to bed? Uh, what have I, what have I decided to do here? This is a really dark forest, okay? If I go outside, it's all dark. Alright, anyways, the sun's coming up in, in seven hours, six hours. So, um, thanks again for joining me on this livestream. Uh, if you wanna see some of the photos of the stuff I was talking about, do check out the Instagram. That, that's the only thing I'm pushing. Instagram, um, onlyinjapan. onlyinjapantv is the Instagram name. And uh, you'll see what I'm talking about. Goodnight, everybody. I, I'm seriously gonna end right now. I'm pushing the button. I'm, I really am. Goodnight. That was fun.